Law&Crime Sidebar - 5 Developments in Accused Husband Killer Kouri Richins' Poisoning Murder Case

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Prosecutors in Utah say Kouri Richins used fentanyl to murder her husband Eric in March 2022. As her case progresses, new developments have come to light — including losing assets and being accused of witness tampering. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down the latest developments in this high-profile case. PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome internet browser, you can find out if you have a claim in only a few clicks by visiting www.forthepeople.com/LCGoogleHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The dynamics that we're talking about, as far as I can tell, exist statewide, nationwide. This case was covered by the BEC. I don't know that you will find jurisdiction. that is certainly not the state of Utah that is going to be materially different than something in terms of its

saturation of media coverage in this case. It is the continuing criminal case of Corey Richens, the woman accused of poisoning her husband to death and then afterwards writing a children's book about grief. Well, we've got some new updates for you, including her brother speaking out. Welcome to Sidebar,

presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So I realized it's been a minute since we talked about arguably one of the most interesting cases to capture the nation's attention, also a really sad and frightening one, Corey Richens, the 33-year-old woman accused of murdering her 39-year-old husband, Eric Richens. Now, I want to go over some of the relatively recent developments for those of you who haven't been following the case, but a little bit of backstory. So Eric and Richens, they were married in 2013, they have three sons together, they were living in Utah, he was operating a masonry business, and then in March of 2022, Eric is found dead in their home at the foot of his bed, and Richens is accused of poisoning Eric with a fentanyl cocktail. It would be determined that he had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his body.

And this is in stark contrast with what Richens told authorities, because she told authorities, she simply prepared him a Moscow mule before he went to sleep for the night. By the way, one of the reasons this story became so publicized is because after Richon's death, she published a children's book called Are You With Me? She said it was a way to help the couple's three young boys deal with the loss of their father. She even in an interview with ABC Four Good Things Utah. I went on Amazon in Barnes and Noble and trying to find something that we could use to cope at nights. Nights are the hardest, it seems like, for everybody when, you know, dealing with anything.

But I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night. And I just could not find anything. I couldn't find anything that really, you know, suited them or help them find comfort and peace. And so, you know, I was like, let's just write one. She was charged the following month with his aggravated murder and drug possession with intent to distribute. Now, Corey Richens' housekeeper, a convicted drug dealer named Carmen Marie Lauber, has allegedly confessed to authorities that she supplied Richens with 15 to 30 fentanyl pills on two separate occasions approximately one month before Eric's death, and that Richens paid her about $900 each time. Come to find out also that this is not the only time that Richens allegedly poisoned Eric, it's been reported that Eric broke out in hives and had trouble breathing after eating a sandwich prepared by his wife. the month before his death.

And it's also been reported that Eric became ill in Greece a few years back when he was on a trip with Richens after she gave him a drink. He allegedly said that she was trying to kill him. And Eric even allegedly told loved ones if something happened to him, Richens was to blame. Now again, some bad stuff here. We're going to get into more. She is innocent until proven guilty. Just laying out a little bit of the backstory.

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you have a claim in only a few clicks by visiting WWW. for the people.com slash Lc. Google. It only takes a few minutes to sign up and find out if you have a claim. Now I want to get into some recent developments. And first up, it concerns Richon's finances. Here's third district court judge Richard Mrazik talking about it. With respect to factor E1, the court finds that factor is satisfied as a matter of law

by the court's determination that there is substantial evidence supporting the aggravated murder charge in this case. Regarding factor E2, the court acknowledges that the difficulty of recreating, chasing, and reversing any flow of funds or dissipation of assets that might occur during the pretrial period So yes, the judge found here that there is enough evidence to freeze Richens' assets, meaning she can't transfer, change the title of, or pledge any asset she or her realty company, Corey Richens' realty, has. But the court established a constructive trust on all the property and assets of Richens and her company in case she needs to make a transfer or disbursement to fund her criminal defense.

And that makes sense because the defendant has a six of the maximum. right to counsel and sometimes interfering substantially and the defendant's ability to pay their legal costs can be an issue. Now, the judge did allow Eric's family to maintain a financial interest in Corey's estate. It's to be used as collateral if she were to move money or assets around that turns out they have a right to. But you also wouldn't order a trustee's bond or the appointment of a receiver in regards to Eric's estate. By the way, a side note, Richards is involved in a legal battle with Eric's family to determine who inherits his estate and there's a separate wrongful death lawsuit that was filed against her by Eric's family. By the way, finances, generally

speaking, they play a role here in this alleged murder plot. Leading up to Eric's death, he was reportedly fighting with Richens about her wanting to buy and flip a $2 million house, which she ended up closing on the day before he died. In the years prior to his death, she also allegedly purchased four life insurance policies on Eric in the millions of dollars, something that Eric was not aware of? He did find out, though, that she had allegedly been withdrawing money from his bank accounts, running up thousands of dollars on his credit cards, and misappropriating money that was intended to be used to pay taxes on Eric's business, seemingly for her own use. And then only a couple of months before Eric died, Richens is accused of changing a different life insurance policy

to make herself the beneficiary instead of Eric's business partner. Eric found out he changed it back to his business partner. Richens is accused of then filing a new life insurance application for $100,000 on Eric's life. And that's not even all of it because it's also been reported that behind Richens back, Eric changed his will, created a trust, and granted his sister control over his estate. At one point, he was even looking into a possible divorce. And by the way, as I just said that, it made me think, doesn't that kind of sound like a prosecution's opening statement in Corey Richon's criminal trial, right?

Putting all of these pieces together about a plot to kill her husband. Okay, over now to another recent development, and this concerned where the judge in this case had to decide Richen's motion to dismiss the criminal case. And Richen's argument centered upon this letter that was found in her jail cell that was addressed to her mother. According to prosecutors, this letter provided instructions to Richon's brother to testify. falsely to create the narrative that Eric was getting drugs from Mexico, and that ties into the fentanyl that he died from, meaning that he overdosed from his own drugs.

According to prosecutors, Richens quote, concocks a false narrative for Ronald Darden, that's her brother, to repeat whereby Eric told Ronnie that he got pain pills and fentanyl from Mexico from the workers at the ranch. Now, while prosecutors asserted that this appeared to be a form of witness tampering, Richens hasn't been charged with that. But prosecutors also wrote in their filing that this was not their only point of concern. They also talked about a different incident, quote, significantly on the morning of September 13, 2023 on a video conference with Lisa Darden, that's Corey's mother.

The defendant held up yet another letter for her mother to read silently to herself. That letter was not found inside the defendant's cell. There is a strong inference that the September 13, 2023 letter was destroyed or flushed. Now, Richon's legal team took major issues with what the prosecution did here. Her lawyer said that prosecutors engaged in misconduct by filing the letter alongside what they wrote in their legal briefs, their commentary. They said, now the public, the media, they see all of this. And their argument was that what the prosecutors did here violated the court-imposed

gag order in this case that prevents the parties from communicating about the case outside of court. gag orders are a way to not paint a future jury pool. Also, Richens' lawyer said that prosecutors misconstrued what the letter was even about. So Richens' move to dismiss the case, but the judge here denied the motion. The court simply isn't persuaded that the conduct of the Southern County Attorney's Office violates rules 3.4, 3.8, or has caused Ms. Richens a denied. of due process or a denial of a right to a fair trial, the court is confident that it can preside over a sufficient or dire process to ensure that Ms. Richens does, in fact, receive

a fair trial. And what the judge ruled here makes sense, considering this is already such a public case with so much written about it, what you're really going to need is a careful jury selection process. That's going to be necessary here, and the judge feels confident that through the voir dire, or jury selection process, you can weed out those people that shouldn't be there. Now, the judge also denied enforcing the gag order again or imposing sanctions on the prosecution. But another big development was that the judge denied the prosecutor's motion for a no-contact order

between Richens and her mother and brother. The defendant has a First Amendment right and to correspond with whom she pleases and to say what she likes as long as she doesn't do anything that requires a prior restraint justified by a sufficiently strong interest that countervails her First Amendment rights. Here, there's no evidence that she's done in any such thing that requires her to be prohibited from speaking to any specific human being. The Walk the Dog Letters have several plausible ratings. It does not include any threats whatsoever or any other kind of communication that would typically justify a prior restraint of free speech. Moreover, there's no evidence that it was ever handed to anyone. And the state has it, so to the extent they need to cross-examine a witness or impeach a witness with

its contents at trial, they would be able to do so, absent some other ruling by the court, excluding the letter or suppressing the search that found. So he acknowledged that there are different ways to interpret Richon's handwritten letter from jail. There's not enough evidence to warrant restricting her speech, and not to mention, as the judge laid out, this is a jail. Prosecutors can watch out for what she's doing in other ways, including if she makes a call on a recorded jailhouse phone line. By the way, talking about Corey Richon's family, another development, her brother, Ronnie Darden, who we just talked about, well, he has now come out and spoke to the media.

Specifically, here is what he said to KUTV 2 News, Salt Lake City. First of all, that she's innocent. She absolutely did not and could never do this. My thoughts on it is accidental overdose. That's just my opinion. And he went on to say that he knows that she didn't do any of this because she can't even squash a spider. He says that he's worried about his sister's emotional state that he speaks to her every day that she misses her children, that she was crying. And he also said that she loved Eric, that the two of them had a great relationship.

They were in the best spot. They had some ups and downs like you typically see in America. And his biggest concern is finding an unbiased jury not painted by the prosecution. Those were his words. Well, those are just some of the recent developments in the Corey Richens case. And if something should unfold further, we will make sure to cover it. And that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.